Hype Machine has been introducing people to new music since 2005. Let’s keep it going.
We are a team of three—an independent company without investors. Most of our revenue comes from ads on the desktop site, but due to changes in online advertising, this is no longer enough to support the service.
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How did we get here?
Hype Machine was built in a college dorm room in 2005, and over the years has grown into a dedicated community of music fans. We are a team of three—an independent company without investors. Most of our revenue comes from ads on the desktop site, but due to changes in online advertising, this is no longer enough to support the service.
We’ve been amplifying the work of emerging musicians, writers, and communities for the last 15 years. Remaining independent has allowed us to make the kind of product we want to use ourselves: focused, playful, and in line with our ideas about what’s ethical. (We don’t collect or sell user data or emails, for example.)
What does Hype Machine do?
Hype Machine tracks music that people are talking about. We index hundreds of publications, handpicked as trusted voices in the global conversation about music. Our thinking is that if one of them liked something enough to write about it, it’s worth a listen.
Every track indexed ends up on the Latest page, whether it’s published by a site with 20,000 followers or 20. Listen and you might stumble into your new favorite song, a style of music you hadn’t heard before, or an artist that was way off your radar.
Music is more accessible now than ever before thanks to streaming services. That’s great! We use them too. What makes Hype Machine unique is how we approach discovery—finding new and unfamiliar sounds through the lens of the writers in our index. Because sometimes, the most exciting stuff is just outside our listening habits.
How did it start?
In 2005, music discussion was dominated by a handful of large print magazines. Blogs emerged to cover a broader range of music beyond the top commercial releases of the day, spreading the conversation across thousands of sites.
Hype Machine brought all these posts together in one place for easy streaming. Built as a personal project, it quickly caught on with curious listeners. The following year, Anthony bought the hypem.com domain, moved Hype Machine from the server it shared with his collection of Godspeed You! Black Emperor concert photos, and increased capacity for our growing audience.
We’re grateful that Hype Machine has been able to reach so many people over the years. It may seem like a large company from the outside, but it’s just the three of us sitting around a kitchen table, answering emails and writing code.
Why are we raising money?
As music experiences on the internet have become more centralized, powered by a handful of large services, they’ve also become more alike. Today, a listener’s choice is between minor interface and catalog differences—a narrow way of interacting with a key part of contemporary culture. We think that people deserve a multitude of ways of experiencing music, and we’d like to build more of them with your support and feedback.
Crowdfunding is our sole option—online advertising only works well at immense scale (while introducing complex privacy issues), and venture capital prioritizes returns over sustainability.
Your monthly contribution will allow us to keep Hype Machine running, but most importantly, continue creating ways to explore new music. We’ve been thinking about these ideas for many years, and we’re ready to try more of them out with you.
Let’s build it together.
—Dave, Zoya, and Anthony
